An interactive journal of reflection on the Unitarian Universalist ministry, life...and pizza

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

So, why a blog? (reason #1)

As a seminarian, one hears over and over the importance of reflection and the "discernment" process. When I interviewed for admission into Meadville Lombard Theological School, I was asked, "What do you do when you just want to 'be'? Frankly, I thought that this was a stupid question and I had no answer for it. You see, I could not separate in my own mind times when I wasn't 'being' from times when I was.

After two years, I still think it is a silly question (at least for someone in their 50's with significant life experience). But, now I believe I have an answer. It may not be an answer that someone making an admissions decision likes to hear. It is, however, a truthful answer. When I want to 'be,' I let my muse free to bring together ideas in my head that have entered in the recent past. I allow the powers of synchronicity in the world the freedom to mate one idea to another to create new ideas or insights.

Sometimes, my 'being' is idle daydreaming. Other times, it is a cauldron of bubbling words and thoughts out of which may coalesce a single crystal shard of an idea. And, still other times, my entire life switches lanes and proceeds in slightly new directions.

So, why a blog? Mostly because it is hard to articulate my form of 'being' to those who will evaluate my progress toward becoming a formed minister. A blog is one way to demonstrate tangibly my acts of reflection to folks comfortable with writing poetry, drumming, or meditating under a shady tree in a pastoral grove. I'm way too obsessive compulsive for those forms of reflection. But, as a child of the computer, blogging seems a natural form of journaling my progress.

If you, too, are on a journey in life, then maybe my reflections will sound familiar. Perhaps we can share our thoughts as we speed along the highway.

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About Me

I serve as the Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland, Michigan. Beyond preaching, education, and pastoral care, a major part of my ministry revolves around social justice work. I am a politically progressive, radically inclusive, nonviolent anarchist.